Bugle's link to famous cavalry charge

AMONG the contents of a Byron Bay home lies a special piece of First World War history.

For the Northern Rivers' based Clark family, it's a tale worth telling.

Jan Clark's father, Roy Wynter, played the bugle, a now historic memento of a young horseman and his part in Australia's military folklore.

At 17 years of age, Roy Wynter played a part in Anzac history, the youngest member of what is considered the last great cavalry charge in history.

On October 1917, Australia's Light Horse Brigade rode at dusk and stormed though Turkish defences, successfully seizing the strategic town of Beersheba.

The greatest problem was to find water in the area for the troops and the horses but the water supplies they found made the attack a feasible operation.

"Finding the water meant they scared the Turkish forces, they were expecting something else," Ms Clark explained.

"The galloping horses charged towards the enemy, who they jumped over to get to the wells.

"Nothing was going to stop them."

Growing up on a farm in Taree, Wynter left home at 16 to join the army in Bathurst, only to be brought home again.

The next time they found him, he was in Egypt.

Recognised as a natural athlete from a young age and a great sportsman in later life: "He was the fastest to run around the pyramids," Ms Clark said.

Bugle in hand, Roy sounded it and signalled the charge of the cavalry to mark the beginning of the great Battle of Beersheba.

Too young to be handed a weapon to fight, once the soldiers dismounted the horses to fight the battle by hand, Roy - accompanied by Australian poet, Banjo Patterson - gathered the horses by their reigns.

After three years of serving and fighting in the Middle East, Wynter contracted malaria and was shipped home.

"It nearly killed him, but in the end it probably saved his life," Ms Clark said, with her father being signed up for more battles.

Given land at Coopers Shoot, Wynter farmed and married before having three children, including Ms Clark who still lives there with her partner.

The Clark family have never missed a dawn service and gather together at a bowling club every April 25 in remembrance.

October 31 this year marks the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Beersheba, and the historic charge of the 4th Light Horse Brigade.

Ms Clark's son, Paul Clark plans to take the bugle back to Beersheba in Israel for the re-enactment.